Values and morals, relevant or not?
Birthing children is the joy of almost every household. While some delight in having children, others just have them because the society believes we should. Some simply do not want to have and you can’t blame them at all.
Giving birth to children is not the beginning and end of it. Nurturing these children, guiding them through the right path and inculcating good moral and cultural values are part of the necessary things need to be done for them.
While it is the desire of every parent to give their children the best education, best food, best accommodation, and all the best they can, they live out some very fundamental factors that will make the children grow well all round and ensure a greater and better society.
Gone are the days when we placed high values on morality. As it stands now, ‘every and any thing’ goes. We should not forget the fact that what we say or do today can have an effect on tomorrow or the next person. Training a child is like sowing a seed. If you plant a good seed, all things being equal, you will reap a bountiful harvest. However, when you plant a bad seed, an infected seed or a non-viable seed, you will not expect to reap anything good.
As at today, the society is bedevilled with all kinds of morality issues. There is so much indiscipline, lack of respect for seniors/elders, man’s inhumanity to man, social ills and vices, indifference to the plight of others and so much more.
The family is the first school for a child that is born. He or she learns a number of this in that environment. The atmosphere a child is born into goes a long way to determine how well, how fast and how prepared a child is to cope in the outside world.
I always say that if we have it right at home, the society and the world at large will become a better place to live in.
As the years go by, moral values continue to fizzle out. The things we held in high esteem no longer seem to matter.
I remember growing up, the child used to belong to everybody. You could beat, flog, chastise or even punish another person’s child for a wrong doing. The training of the child was for the community as they said ‘only one person cannot train a child.’ Try that one today and you will not hear the last of it. I don’t think that anyone in his or her right senses will deliberately want to hurt or harm a child. A good child is known from his or her attitude. The love of a parent to a child is expressed not in giving that child everything he or she wants but by instilling the right values and morals.
After my secondary school days, while waiting for my result, I went out to a family friend’s house. My parents were definitely aware of the visit. While there, we got carried away because I was making her hair. It was already evening before I finished. I got home by 6pm. Lo and behold, our neighbour was sitting outside with my mum. There was no escape route for me as I was obviously late. My mother didn’t say anything immediately because it was our neighbour that spoke and she said: “Where are you coming from at this time? Do you want your mother to cook for you?” That was a way of chastising me and neither I nor my mum picked offence because she was right. I will never forget that incident. Try that now and you will be shocked at the reaction you will get.
The Bible says train up a child in the way he should go and when he grows he will not depart from it: Proverbs 22 vs 6. Of course, this is truly right because what we have obtainable right now is a departure from this. We are also told that when you spare the rod, you spoil the child. There are good ways in doing these things. My heart bleeds when I see the level of moral decadence and depravity in the society. The abnormal has become the new normal. We no longer have value for humanity. People and even children are trending for the wrong reasons.
The social media is not helping us at all. The social media has its advantages and disadvantages; however, it seems people are more abreast of the ills on these platforms than the good sides. You see various kinds of things on those platforms and with very easy access to technology, the innocent minds are polluted. Lavish lifestyles of teenagers who do not have a means of livelihood are being branded and applauded either directly or indirectly.
Hardwork is no longer rewarded. Even if it comes, it takes forever. Get rich or die trying has become the mantra. It beats my imagination to even hear or see parents encouraging their children to go into these questionable things. We are taking our share of the resources ‘by force.’
Families need to do more and better. Every society has its value systems. What do we take pride in? What do we hold in high esteem? A child that is nurtured properly will to a large extent turn out well. When we all play our parts, then we can smile and take a rest.
However, we are very far from where we started. A lot of water has passed under the bridge but we can still salvage what is left.
Where did we get it wrong? What can we do about it? Where do we start from? Are we even willing to make things right? Do we even realise that things have gone north? These and more are the questions that plague my mind.
